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NEW    READINGS 


SHAKSPERE; 


OR, 


PROPOSED  EMENDATIONS  OF  THE  TEXT. 


BY 


EGBERT  CARTWRIGHT,  M.D. 


LONDON:    JOHN    RUSSELL    SMITH, 

36,   SOHO    SQUARE. 

JANUARY,  1866. 


S.  AND.  J  BRAWN,   STEAM  PRINTERS,  13,  PRINCES  ST.,  LITTLE 
QUEEN  ST.,   HOLBORN,   W.C. 


THESE  New  Headings  are  the  product  of  pleasant 
evenings  over  Mr.  DYCE'S  Second  Edition  of  Shakspere. 
Should  a  few  be  accepted  as  genuine  emendations,  I 
shall  feel  I  have  joined  the  useful  with  the  sweet,  and 
not  spent  the  time  in  vain  : 

"  The  fine's  the  crown." 

ROBERT  CARTWRIGHT,  M.D. 

November,  1865. 


NEW  READINGS   IN  SHAKSPERE. 


The  figures  in  the  margin  refer  to  the  pages  of  Mr.  Dyce's  second  edition. 


THE   TEMPEST. 

VOL.  I. 

182.         Now  I  arise.  a.  i. — 2. 

Read  P.  rises  ;  a  stage  direction. 

187.         As  wicked  dew.  a.  i. — 2. 

Read  cursed. 

In  Komeo  and  Juliet  I  have  since  dropt  on  a  curious  confirmation  of 
this  emendation  :  "  0  most  cursed  fiend  !"  "  So  in  the  first  quarto  alone," 
says  Mr.  Dyce ;  the  common  reading  is  " wicked"  evidently  a  misprint, 
— '  ancient  damnation  !' 

1 92.  nor  this  man's  threats, 

To  whom  I  am  subdu'd,  are  but  light  to  me, 
Might  I  but—  a.  i— 2. 

Read  and, — omit  lut. 

207.         Most  lusiless  when  I  do  it.  a.  iii. — 1. 

The  folio  has  "  most  busie  lest"  the  second  folio  " least."  It  does  not 
fall  within  my  plan  to  comment  on  vexed  passages  and  disputed  readings, 
or  these  slight  pages  might  easily  swell  into  a  ponderous  tome  ;  hut  here 
we  have  a  word,  busiless,  that  is  not  even  English,  of  base  coinage,  German 
silver,  schein-geld  ;  nor  is  it  any  amendment  on  the  reading  in  the  second 
folio,  where  the  meaning  is  plain  enough,  and  free  from  any  violent  or 
overstrained  antithesis.  A  somewhat  similar  passage  occurs  in  Romeo 
and  Juliet,  and  also  in  the  Sonnets  : — 

"  I  measuring  his  affections  by  my  own, 

That  most  are  busied  when  they  are  most  alone." 
"  To  work  my  mind,  when  body's  work's  expired." 

Hence  perhaps  it  is  advisable,  till  a  better  emendation  be  discovered, 
possibly  a  line  may  have  dropt  out,  to  retain,  "  Most  busy — least  when 
I  do  it." 

222.        Leave  not  a  wreck  behind.  a.  iv. — 1. 

The  folio  has  racke ;  but,  it  appears,  rack  is  absolutely  inadmissible  ; 
and  wreck  by  the  same  rule  is  equally  so  ;  for  if  rack  cannot  mean  "  a 
single  small  fleeting  cloud,"  neither  can  wreck  signify  a  fragment.  By 
submitting  to  the  hard,  dry  fact,  that  neither  rack  nor  wreck  can  be 
used  without  vitiating  the  language,  we  are  rewarded  with  the  happy 
discovery  of  the  true  reading  in  the  homely  and  expressive  word  scrapt — 
"  Leave  not  a  scrap  behind." 


6  NEW  READINGS  IN  SH4KSPERE. 

223.         There  dancing  up  to  the  chins,  that  the  foul  lake 

O'erstunk  their  feet.  a.  iv. — 1. 

Read  O'ersway'd. 

That  Ariel  made  no  sticli  coarse  remark  we  may  infer  from  the  words, 
"  beat  the  ground  for  kissing  of  their  feet ;"  "  and  I,  thy  Caliban,  for 

j  1  /»  j  1  •       1  1 1  7  rf 

aye  thy  footlicker. 

229.         After  summer  merrily.  a.  v. — 1. 

Head  sunset. 

Proposed  by  Theobald,   and  approved  of  by   Hunter,  and  also  by 
Macaulay.     Thus  writes  the  poet-historian  : — "  Who  does  not  sympathise 
with  the  rapture  of  Ariel,  flying  after  sunset  on  the  wings  of  the  bat  ?"— 
"  Ariel  riding  through  the  twilight  on  the  bat." — Miscellaneous  Writings, 
vol.  1,  pp.  64,  221. 

229.  Whe'r  thou  be'st  he  or  no.  a.  v. — 1. 
Read  Prospero. 

Further  on  we  have,  "  If  thou  be'st  Prospero." 

230.  Have  lost  my  daughter. 

Alon.  A  daughter !  a.  v. — 1. 

Possibly  something  has  dropt  out,  did  you  say  ?  and  any  addition,  or 
none  at  all,  a  pause,  is  preferable  to  reading  '  daughter '  twice  over  as  a 
trisyllable,  and  directly  afterwards  almost  as  a  monosyllable.     There  is, 
I  would  say,  a  pause  here  expressive  of  Alonso's  astonishment,  during 
which  momentary  pause  the  idea  strikes  him  of  the  marriage.    We  have 
'  daughter '  again  proposed  as  a  trisyllable  in  Troilus  and  Cressida  : — 
"  With  one  of  Priam's  daughters. 
Achil  Ha  !  known  !"  a.  iii. — 3. 

Read  "  Ha,  ha  !  known  !"  Achilles,  even  in  a  prose  passage,  repeats  the 
word,  "Where,  where,"— "O,  tell,  tell."  "Tut,  tut,"  says  Benvolio, 
the  second  tut  added  in  the  second  folio,  and  there  are  many  similar 
slips.  I  shall  show  in  some  other  instances,  this  trisyllabic  theory, 
though  valuable  perhaps  in  some  cases,  has  been,  like  the  pause-theory, 
a  little  overworked. 


THE  TWO  GENTLEMEN  OF  VEKONA. 

321.         And,  that  my  love  may  appear  plain  and  free, 

All  that  was  mine  in  Silvia  I  give  thee.          a.  v.- 
Read  forgive  or  'give. 
When  Proteus  says  : — 

"  My  shame  and  guilt  confound  me, — 

Forgive  me,  Valentine ;" 

all  hia  love  or  rather  passion  for  Silvia  vanished  at  the  same  moment. 
The  words,  "  forgive  me,"  ought  to  be  received  as  evidence  that  give  is  a 
misprint.  The  strongest  argument  in  favour  of  give  is  the  fainting  of 
Julia,  but  that  this  fainting,  as  well  as  the  mistake  in  the  rings,  was  one 
of  love's  tricks,  is  proved  by  : — 

"  And  I  will  follow,  more  to  cross  that  love, 
Than  hate  for  Silvia,  that  is  gone  for  love." 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  7 

THE  MERRY  WIVES  OF  WINDSOR. 

366.         And  your  lull-baiting  oaths.  a.  ii. — 2. 

Read  lold-lreathing. 
The  folio  has  bold-beating. 

374.         A  word,  Monsieur  Mock-water.  a.  ii. — 3. 

Read  Make-water. 

The  folio  has  Mocke, — the  word  itself,  oc  for  a. 
"  Gains.  Mac&-vater  !  vat  is  clat  ? 

Host.  Make-water,  in  our  English  tongue,  is  valour,  bully." 
Every  child  knows  it  means  cowardice,  and  he  had  just  before  called 
him  "heart  of  elder,"  also  Bully  Stale,  and  King  Urinal. 

416.         Of  disobedience  or  unduteous  wile.  a.  v. — 5. 

Read  will. 
1  Wile '  and  '  guile '  are  included  in  craft.     The  folio  has  title. 


MEASURE  FOR  MEASURE. 

458.  Some  TMnfrom  brakes  of  vice,  and  answer  none. 

Read  through.  a.  ii. — 1. 

474.  But  in  the  loss  of  question.  a.  ii. — 4. 

Read  loose  ;  freedom  of  discussion,  for  argument's  sake. 

480.         To  lie  in  cold  obstruction,  and  to  rot ; 

In  thrilling  regions  of  thick-ribbed  ice.         a.  iii. — 1. 
Read  abstraction  and  chilling. 

"  A  chilling  cold  possesseth  all  my  bones."     Locrine,  a.  i. — 1. 
"  Heat  burns  his  rise,  frost  chills  his  setting  beams, 

And  vex  the  world  with  opposite  extremes."  Creech. 

"  Cold  abstraction  "  and  "  imagine  howling  "  are  also  two  extremes. 

480.  Die,  perish  !  might  but  my  bending  down.  a.  iii. — 1. 
Read  Die,  perish,  wretch  ! 

"  0  faithless  coward  !  0  dishonest  wretch  !" 

481 .  Do  not  satisfy  your  resolution  with  hopes  that  are 

fallible.  a.  iii. — 1. 

Read  irresolution;  (satisfy — feed.) 

504.         How  might  she  tongue  me  !  Yet  reason  dares  her  no; 

For  my  authority  bears  so  credent  bulk.       a.  iv. — 4. 

Read  "fears  her  not"  and   "here's  of  a ;" — "my  absolute 

power  and  place  here  in  Vienna." 
The  folio  has  "  bears  of  a  credent  bulk." 

520.         Wherein  have  I  deserved  so  of  you."  a.  v. — 1. 

Read  Sir,  so  deserv'd. 
The  folio  has  "  so  deserv'd." 


8  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

THE  COMEDY  OF  EEEOES. 

VOL.  II. 

9.  To  seek  thy  life  by  beneficial  help.  a.  i. — 1. 

Read  the  sum. 

The  folio  has  thy  help.  "  Try  all  the  friends  thou  hast, — make  up  the 
sum  and  live."  The  Duke  is  evidently  thinking  of  the  ransom  or 
thousand  marks.  Again  in  the  fifth  act : — 

"  If  any  friend  will  pay  the  sum  for  him." 
"  Haply  I  see  a  friend  will  save  my  life, 
And  pay  the  sum  that  may  deliver  me." 

"  Life"  is  also  contra-indicated  by — "  Doth  he  so  seek  his  life  ?" 

Measure  for  Measure,  a.  i. — 4. 

15.     Read  I  see  the  jewel  best  enamelled 

Will  lose  his  beauty  :  and  the  gold  bides  still, 
That  others  touch,  yet  often  touching  will 
Besmear  gold  :  and  no  man  that  hath  a  name, 
But  falsehood  and  corruption  doth  it  shame. 
Since  then  my  beauty a.  ii. — 1. 

The  folio  has  where  and  that.  The  usual  reading,  wear,  is  contra- 
indicated  by  "  the  gold  bides  still ;"  and  that  is  a  misprint  caused  by  its 
being  twice  repeated  just  before; — "then  is  he  the  ground  of  my 
defeatures." 

20.          We  talk  with  none  but  goblins,  owls,  and  sprites. 
Read  "  goblins,  elves,  and  fairy  sprites."  a.  ii. — 2. 

"  Every  elf  and  fairy  sprite,"  says  Oberon.  The  folio  has  "  "We  talk 
with  goblins,  owls,  and  sprights." 

25.  And  in  despite  of  mirth,  mean  to  be  merry,     a.  iii. — 1. 
Read  wrath,  with  Theobald. 

"And  did  not  I  in  rage  depart  from  thence."  a.  iv. — 4. 

26.  And  as  a  led  I'll  take  them.  a.  iii. — 1. 
Read  bride  and  thee. 

The  folio  has  bud  and  thee.  The  editor  of  the  second  folio  incon- 
siderately changed  bud  to  bed,  but  he  did  not  alter  thee ;  a  noteworthy 
fact,  he  did  not  make  a  bed  of  the  golden  hairs.  We  may  assume  bed  is 
an  error,  a  false  emendation,  since  it  necessitates  changing  thee  into 
them  ;  nor  can  "  that  glorious  supposition "  be  well  referred  to  bed, 
though  singularly  applicable  to  bride  ; — "  and  there  lie"  on  "  the  silver 
•waves,"  a  beautiful  image,  poetical  and  classical.  Antipholus  then 
humourously  adds,  "  Let  Love  [my  Venus,  my  Luciana]  being  light  (lux) 
be  drowned  if  she  sink  ;" — "  sweet  love," — "  why  call  you  me  love  '? " 

52.  Besides  her  urging  of  her  wreck  at  sea.  a.  v. — 1. 

Read  his  urging  of  their. 

The  Duke's  remarks  refer  entirely  to  "  his  morning  story,"  to  ^Egeon's 
long  speech  in  the  first  scene. 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  9 

MUCH  ADO  ABOUT  NOTHING. 

90.         I  am   not  so  reputed:  it  is  the  base,  though  bitter 
disposition  of  Beatrice.  a.  ii. — 1. 

Read  false. 

LOVE'S  LABOUR'S  LOST. 

166.         May's  new-fangled  earth.  a.  i. — 1. 

Read  heo.rth. 

An  allusion  to  the  custom  of  decorating  the  fire-place  with  flowers  in 
summer  ;  in  Shakspere's  time  perhaps  it  was  done  on  May-day,  the 
chimney-sweepers'  holiday. 

166.         A  dangerous  law  against  garrulity.  a-  i. — 1. 

Read  civility. 

"  Use  all  th'  observance  of  civility." 

Merchant  of  Venice,  a.  ii. — 2. 

The  quarto  has  gentletie,  a  misprint  probably  caused  by  penalty  in  the 
line  above.  Though  '  garrulity'  may  express  Longaville's  meaning,  it  is 
directly  opposed  to  the  sentiments  of  Biron,  who  defends  the  gentle  and 
refining  influence  of  woman;  but  ' civility'  is  a  happy  retort  to  his 
uncourteous  remark. 

178.         Not  sin  to  break  it.  a.  ii. — 1. 

Read  and, — with  the  old  editions. 

"For  you'll  prove  perjur'd  if  you  make  me  stay." 
And  Biron  says  : — 

"  I  that  hold  it  sin 
To  break  the  vow  I  am  engaged  in." 

The  whole  play  turns  on  this  perjury  ;  but  what  is  singular,  no  allusion 
is  ever  made  to  the  remarkable  words, — "  'Tis  deadly  sin  to  keep  that 
oath."    The  King  takes  no  notice  of  them,  and  at  parting  says, — 
"  Without  breach  of  honour, 

You  may  not  come,  fair  princess,  in  my  gates ;" 

Language  most  offensive,  if  the  princess  spoke  according  to  the  text. 
Hence,  we  may  infer,  keep  is  a  misprint  for  take,  caused  by  the  word 
'  housekeeping '  in  the  preceding  line.  The  princess  on  her  arrival  says, 
"  Navarre  hath  made  a  vow  ;"  and  Boyet  tells  her  : — 

"  He  rather  means  to  lodge  you  in  the  field, 

Than  seek  a  dispensation  for  his  oath." 

Under  such  circumstances  it  seems  highly  improbable  the  princess  should 
instantly  absolve  him  from  his  vow  ;  rather,  like  a  good  diplomatist,  she 
might  say,  "  'Tis  sin  to  take  that  oath,  aud  sin  to  break  it ;"  therefore 
"  suddenly  resolve  me  in  my  suit." 

201.  To  see  a  king  transformed  to  a  gnat.  a.  iv. — 3. 
Read  sprat. 

"  When  his  disguise  and  he  is  parted,  tell  me  what  a  sprat  you  shall 
find  him." — All's  Well  that  Ends  Well,  a.  iii.— 6. 

202.  With  men,  like  men  of  inconstancy.  a.  iv. — 3. 
Read  you,  of  inconsistency. 


10  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

213.         Potent-like.  a.  v.— 2. 

Read  perfnently. 
The  folio  has  "  pertaunt-like." 

224.         That  smiles  his  cheeks  in  years.  a.  v. — 2. 

Head  leers. 

"  You  leer  upon  me,  do  you  ?.."  says  Biron,  a  few  lines  below. 
"  To  gild  a  face  with  smiles,  and  leer  a  man  to  ruin." — 1 


233.         But  that  it  bear  this  trial  and  last  love.          a.  v. — 2. 
Head  true. 


A  MIDSUMMER  NIGHTS  DREAM. 

270.         My  ear  should  catch  your  voice,  my  eye  your  eye. 
Bead  hair, — with  Mr.  W.  N.  Lettsom. 

My  tongue  should  catch  your  tongue's  sweet  melody. 
Bead  voice.  a.  i. — 1. 

Evidently  '  voice '  has  been  displaced,  and  the  text  corrupted,  probably 
by  the  compositor  reading  several  lines,  and  then  printing  them  off  with- 
out further  inspection  ;  at  the  same  time  misapprehending  the  sense  of 
"  catch,"  here  best  explained  by  "  resemble," — my  hair  your  hair,  my 
eye  your  eye,  my  voice  your  voice. 

278.         Which  she,  with  pretty  and  with  swimming  gait 

Following, — her  womb   then  rich  with  my   young 
squire.  a.  ii. — 1. 

Bead  "  having  her  womb." 

Following  the  vessels  ?  they  were  on  the  sea  ;  others  propose  "  follow- 
ing her  womb."  Hence  it  appears  the  word  must  be  a  misprint.  The 
proposed  amendment,  ripe  for  rich,  is  inadmissible,  and  is  contra-indi- 
cated by  "  some  unborn  sorrow  ripe  in  fortune's  womb." — Richard  II., 
a.  ii.— 2. 

281.  Bead  And  where  the  snake  throws  her  enamell'd  skin, 
Weed  wide  enough  to  wrap  a  fairy  in : 
There  sleeps  Titania  sometime  of  the  night, 
Lull'd  in  those  flowers  with  dances  and  delight ; 
And  with  the  juice  of  this  I'll  streak  her  eyes, 
And  make  her  full  of  hateful  fantasies,     a.  ii. — 1. 

According  to  the  received  text,  the  pretty  little  harmless  snake  is  a 
most  intrusive  and  unmeaning  personage,  and  there  appears  to  have 
been*  a  dislocation  of  two  lines  ;  but  by  this  happy  reduction  or  re- 
adjustment, the  Queen  sleeps  wrapt  in  her  splendid  "  vesture  wrought 
of  divers  colours,"  and  Oberon  streaks  Titania's  eyes  and  not  the  snake's. 

293.         So  should  a  murderer  look, — so  dead,  so  grim. 

Bead  lead'n  ;  "  So  should  the  murder'd  look."         a.  iii. — 2. 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  ]_  \ 

295.         This  princess  of  pure  white.  a.  iii. — 2. 

Read  essence. 


Perhaps  Shakspere  had  in  his  recollection — 
"  That  skin,  wh 


skin,  whose  pass-praise  hue  scorns  this  poor  term  of  white  ; 
Those  words,  which  do  sublime  the  quintessence  of  bliss." 

Astrophel  and  Stella,  77. 

296.         Look,  where  thy  love  comes,  yonder  is  thy  dear. 
Head  fere.  a.  iii. — 2. 

309.  My  love  to  Hermia, 

Melted  as  melts  the  snow.  a.  iv. — 1. 

Head  is. 
The  weather  was  very  variable,  summer  and  winter  the  same  day. 

309.         And  I  have  found  Demetrius  like  a  jewel,     a.  iv. — 1. 
Head  double. 

313.  Hot  ice  and  wondrous  swarthy  snow.  a.  v. — 1. 
Read  stained. 

The  old  editions  have  strange. 

314.  And  what  poor  willing  duty  cannot  do, 

Noble  respect  takes  it  in  might y  not  merit,     a.  v. — 1. 
Read  simple  and  right. 

"  When  simpleriess  and  duty  tender  it."  Theobald  added  "  willing," 
the  line  being  imperfect  in  the  old  editions ;  "in  right"  as  a  due,  not  on 
its  merits  ; — "  out  of  this  silence  yet  I  pick'd  a  welcome."  This  emen- 
dation I  have  since  found  confirmed  in  these  lines  : — 

"  Renowned  King,  lo  here  your  faithful  subjects  press  to  show 
The  loyal  duty,  which  [in  right]  they  to  your  highness  owe." 

Promos  and  Cassandra,  *  Part  II.,  a.  i. — 9. 

318.  No  lion  fell,  nor  else  no  lion's  dam.  a.  v. — 1. 
Head  "  A  lion's  fell,  none  else." 

The  old  editions  have  "  a  lion  fell." 

"  If  none  else,  I  am  he." — Troilus  and  Cressida. 

"  None  else  to  me,  nor  I  to  none  alive." — Sonnets,  112. 

319.  For,  by  thy  gracious,  golden,  glittering  gleams, 

I  trust  to  taste  of  truest  Thisbe's  sight.  a.  v. — 1. 

Head  streams. 

The  folio  has  beams  ;  <  streams '  originated  in  the  second  folio.  ( Gleams' 
is  contra-indicated  by  sight  in  the  next  line.  If  the  law  of  alliteration 
requires  gleams,  then  sight  should  begin  with  a  t, — "  truest  Thisbe's 
thsight."  Perhaps  it  is  a  matter  of  taste,  but  to  me  it  seems  certain 
Shakspere  wrote  streams.  Note  the  alliteration  of  the  rhyme,  '  beams, 
bright,  streams,  sight.' 

*  Perhaps  Shakspere  may  have  taken  the  hint  for  the  name  of  Measure  Jor 
Measure  from — 

"  Who  others  doth  deceive, 
Deserves  himself  like  measure  to  receive." — First  Part,  a,  v.— 4. 

B   2 


12  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

320.         These  lily  lips, 

This  cherry  nose.  a.  v. — 1. 

Read  O's. 

For  which  lips  may  be  an  easy  misprint,  if  the  '  0 '  be  loosely  written, 
and  a  long  s.  As  Lysander  calls  the  stars  "  fiery  O's,"  Thisbe  in  her 
burlesque  may  well  call  two  cherries  [*  my  cherry  lips']  lily  O's. 

322.         Through  the  house  give  glimmering  light 

By  the  dead  and  drowsy  fire.  a.  v. — 1. 

Read  "  Through  the  hall  a"  and  "gives  the  dead." 


THE  MERCHANT  OF  VENICE. 

382.  The  beauteous  scarf 

Veiling  an  Indian  beauty.  a.  iii. — £. 

Read  idol. 

"  But,  0,  how  vile  an  idol  proves  this  god  ! " 

Twelfth  Night,  a.  iii. — 5 

396.        Why  he,  a  bollen  bagpipe.  a.  iv. — 1 

Read  wailing. 

AS  YOU  LIKE  IT 

VOL.  III. 

36.          Seek  him  with  candle.  a.  iii. — 1. 

Read  instantly. 
An  easy  misprint — "  Do  this  expediently." 

38.         It  is  the  right  butter-women's  rank  to  market. 

Read  canter.  a.  iii. — 2. 

And  Touchstone  says,  "  This  is  the  very  false  gallop  of  verses." 

"  Canter  was  primitively  a  slang  word  for  amble." — Athenaeum,  No.1931. 

72.          As  those  that  fear  they  hope,  and  know  they  fear. 
Read  fain — would  fain  hope.  a.  v. — 4. 

75.  Even  daughter-welcome,  in  no  less  degree.       a.  v. — 4. 

Read  as  a  daughter. 

"  Welcome  "  being  repeated  from  the  line  above  ;  in  the  folio  there  is 
no  hyphen. 

THE  TAMING  OF  THE  SHREW. 

J 1 2.         I  thank  thee  :  thou  shalt  not  lose  by  it. 

Read  "  I  thank  thee,  boy."  Induction,  sc.  2. 

119.         Some  Neapolitan,  or  mean  man  of  Pisa.          a.  i. — ]. 

Read  some. 

We  have  a  similar  repetition  in  the  Comedy  of  Errors  and  in  Richard  II. 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  1 3 

139.  But  in  this  case  of  wooing, 

A  child  shall  get  a  sire,  if  I  fail  not  of  my  cunning. 

Read  doing.  a.  ii. — 1. 

Proposed  by  Steevens.  "  Tis  in  my  head  to  do  my  master  good."  We 
have  the  same  rhyme  previously  in  this  scene,  p.  130,  and  again  in 
Troilus  and  Cressida,  a.  i. — 2. 

176.         Let's  each  one  send  unto  his  wife.  a.  v. — 2. 

Read  "  Let  each  one  of  us." 


ALL'S  WELL  THAT  ENDS  WELL. 

209.        When  virtue's  steely  bones.  a.  i. — 1. 

Read  stately, — "look  bleak  i'the  wind." 


TWELFTH  NIGHT. 

327.         0,  it  came  o'er  my  ear  like  the  sweet  south,    a.  i. — 1. 
Read  wind. 

The  folio  has  sound,  an  easy  misprint  for  "  wind,"  proposed  by  Eowe. 
Pope  changed  it  to  "  south  ;"  but  that  "  wind,"  the  zephyr,  a  gentle 
breath  from  the  west,  is  the  true  reading,  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following  passages  : — 

"  The  moon  shines  bright :  'twas  such  a  night  as  this, 
When  the  sweet  wind  did  gently  kiss  the  trees, 
And  they  did  make  no  noise." — Merchant  of  Venice,  a.  v. — 1. 

"  They  are  as  gentle 
As  zephyrs,  blowing  below  the  violet, 
Not  wagging  his  sweet  head." — Cymbeline,  a.  iv. — 2. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  quote  "  the  spungy  south,"  "  the  south  fog  rot  him," 
and  "  southern  clouds,"  &c. ;  but  "  south,"  in  this  play  especially,  is 
singularly  inappropriate,  the  plumbeus  auster   of  Horace,  the   modern 
Sirocco.     South  is  treason  to  Shakspere  and  to  nature,  and  even  worse, 
'tis  cherishing  a  falsity,  hugging  a  prejudice. 

343.         But,  though  I  could  not,  with  such  estimable  wonder, 
Overfar  believe  that.  a.  ii. — 1. 

Read  much. 

With  much  credit  to  my  modesty.  "  I  have  told  more  of  you  to  myself, 
than  you  can  with  modesty  speak  in  your  own  behalf." — Timon,  a.  i. — 2. 

359.  I  will  be  strange,  stout,  in  yellow  stockings,  and 
cross-garter'd.  a.  ii. — 5. 

Read  proud. 

"  Put  thyself  into  the  trick  of  singularity ;"  and  after  reading  the 
letter,  Malvolio  says,  "  I  will  be  proud." 

384.        And  there  I  found  this  credit.  a.  iv. — 3. 

Read  writ. 


14  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

384.         Take  and  give  back  affairs  and  their  dispatch. 

Eead  and  her  affairs  dispatch.  a.  iv. — 3. 

392.  A  most  extracting  frenzy.  a.  v. — 1. 

Read  exciting. 

See  Mr.  Dyce's  note,  83,  in  the  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  where  dis- 
traction in  the  old  editions  is  shown  to  be  a  misprint  for  direction ;  and 
here,  most  likely,  the  misprint  has  been  caused  by  distract  in  the  line 
above. 


THE  WINTER'S  TALE. 

420.  That  may  How 

No  sneaping  winds  at  home,  to  make  us  say, 
"  This  is  put  forth  too  truly  !"  a.  i  —  2. 

Eead  "  That  may  grow 

To  sneaping  winds  at  home,  and  make  us  say." 

423.  You  may  ride's 

With  one  soft  kiss  a  thousand  furlongs,  ere 
With  spur  we  heat  an  acre.  a.  i. — 2. 

Eead  beat 

433.        Two  days  ago. — This  jealousy  a.  i. — 2. 

Eead  "This  jealousy,  Camttlo" 

435.         And  one  may  drink,  depart.  a.  ii. — 1. 

Eead  repeat  it. 

Haustus  repetendus.    But  perhaps  a  draught  is  the  true  reading.     "  I 
dreamt  a  dream,"  says  Romeo. 

438.  Would  I  knew  the  villain, 

I  would  land-damn  him.     Be  she  honour-flaw'd. 
Eead  hang  him.     But  be.  a.  ii. — 1. 

Damn  is  probably  taken  from  the  line  above,  and  the  sense  requires 
but  in  this  place. 

456.  Do  not  receive  affliction 

At  my  petition.  a.  iii — 2. 

Eead  monition 

"  Let  me  be  punish'd  that  have  minded  you." 
"  Dar'st  with  thy  frozen  admonition 
Make  pale  our  cheek." — Richard  IL,  a.  ii. — 1. 

457.  Eead.  I  never  saw  a  vessel  of  like  sorrow  :    [a.  iii. — 3. 
So  still,  and  so  becoming,  in  pure  white  robes. 

The  folio  has  fiWd. 

457.         There  wend  and  leave  it  crying.  a.  iii. — 3. 

Eead  land. 
Antigonus  was  already  on  the  coast,  "  We've  landed  in  ill  time," 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  15 

459.        How  it  rages,  how  it  takes  up  the  shore  !      a.  in. — 3. 
Read  tears. 

"  As  storms  the  skies  and  torrents  tear  the  ground, 
Thus  rag'd  the  prince." — Dryden. 


KING  JOHN. 

VOL.  IV. 

25.  Here's  a  stay, 

That  shakes  the  rotten  carcass  of  old  Death,  a.  ii. — 1. 

Read  say. 

"  Here's  a  large  mouth, — speaks  plain  cannon, — never  so  be  thump'd 
with  words,"  &c.  After  a  six-months'  ectasy  over  this  word,  say,  so 
apposite  and  so  characteristic  of  the  dashing,  rollicking  speaker,  I  find 
myself  anticipated  by  Beckett,  and  the  emendation  rejected  by,  at  least, 
one  editor  : — guot  homines,  tot  sententice. 

30.          For  grief  is  proud  and  makes  his  owner  stout. 

Read  too.  a.  iii. — 1. 

The  folio  has  stoope. 

34.  In  likeness  of  a  new  uptrimmed  bride.          a.  iii. — 1. 

Read  "  and  trimmed." 

The  folio  has  untrimmed.  We  say  dressed  up,  but  never  updressed. 
I  find  Theobald  also  proposed  and.  A  word,  of  which  there  is  no 
example  in  the  language,  cannot  be  admitted  as  an  emendation  ;  the 
objection  is  as  fatal  to  uptrimmed  as  to  busiless. 

41.          A  whole  armado  of  converted  sail.  a.  iii. — 4. 

Read  convoyed. 
The  folio  has  convicted. 

44.  That  it  yields  nought  but  shame  and  bitterness. 

Read  grief.  a.  iii. — 4. 

"  Are  not  you  griev'd  that  Arthur  is  his  prisoner  ?" 

51.  If  what  in  rest  you  have  in  right  you  hold.  a.  iv. — 2. 

Read   unright. 

And  then  follow  the  folio,  "  why  then"  and  "should  move  ;"  thus,  by 
the  slight  addition  of  half  a  letter,  the  whole  passage  is  cleared  up  ;  and 
this  line  in  particular  responds  to  the  previous  words,  "  this  dangerous 
argument." 

55.          K.  John.  I  had  mighty  cause 

To  wish  him  dead,  but  thou  hadst  none  to  kill  him. 
Hubert.  No  had,  my  lord  !  a.  iv. — 2. 

Read  cause. 

Let  Shakspere  be  judged  by  himself ;  we  nowhere  find  a  similar 
phrase,  though  there  are  probably  several  hundred  similar  misprints. 
In  the  so-called  parallel  passages  in  Notes  and  Queries,  the  word,  cause, 
occurs  only  in  the  last,  and  only  incidentally.  No  did,  no  does,  may  be 
allowed  in  a  prose  scene,  but  scarcely  in  elevated  poetry. 


1  6  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPEBE. 

56.          Make  ill  deeds  done  !  Hadst  not  thou  been  by. 

Read    0,  hadst.  a.  iv. — 2. 

56.          And  didst  in  signs  again  parley  with  sin.  a.  iv. — 2. 

Read  me. 

58.           His  thin  bestained  cloak.  a.  iv. — 3. 

Read   tJiick-bestained. 

The  folios  place  a  hyphen  between  '  thin '  and  '  bestained.' 

68.           Even  at  the  crying  of  your  nation's  crow.  a.  v. — 2. 

Read   cawing. 

"  Thinking  his  voice  an  armed  Englishman." 

76.           And  you,  my  noble  prince.  a.  v. — 7. 
Read   lord. 


KING  EICHAED  II. 

123.  No,  it  is  stopp'd  with  other  flattering  sounds : 

As  praises  of  his  state;  then  there  are  found,  a.  ii. — 1. 
Read  with  the  folio, 

"  As  praises,  of  whose  taste  the  wise  are  found." 
The  next  line  is  lost ;  two  lines  also  are  lost  rhyming  with  vile  and 
ears,  the  whole  speech  being  in  rhyme,  like  Gaunt's,  the  first  line 
excepted. 

124.  Against  infection  and  the  hand  of  war.  a.  ii. — 1. 
Read  invasion. 

"  Still  secure 
And  confident  from  foreign  purposes." 

King  John,  a.  ii. — 1. 

124.         Whose  rocky  shore  beats  back  the  envious  siege 

Of  watery  Neptune.  a.  ii. — 1. 

Read  surge 

"  That  white-fac'd  shore, 
Whose  foot  spurns  back  the  ocean's  roaring  tides." 

King  John,  a.  ii.—  1. 

"  Expecting  ever  when  some  envious  surge 
Will  in  his  brinish  bowels  swallow  him." 

Titus  Andronicus,  a.  iii. — 1. 

]  24.       For  young  hot  colts  being  rag'd  do  rage  the  more. 
Read    curb'd.  a.  ii. — 1. 

131.         But  what  it  is,  that  is  not  yet  known,  what 

I  cannot  name  ;  'tis  nameless  woe,  I  wot.      a.  ii. — 2. 

Read  that's  and  is  what. 
137.         And  ostentation  of  despised  arms.  a.  ii. — 3. 

Means  "despising"   our  authority;"  "because  my  power  is  weak," 
says  York,  p.  139. 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  17 

141.         And  sigli'd  my  English  breath  in  foreign  clouds. 

Read   lands.  a.  iii. — 1. 

157.         Than  Bolingbroke's  return  to  England.         a.  iv. — 1. 

Head   England's  soil. 

Shakspere's  own  emendation  of  a  line  in  the  Contention : — 

"  Even  as  I  have  of  fertile  England's  soil." 

England,  as  a  trisyllable  here,  is  contra-indicated  by   '  land '  in  the 
next  line. 

157.         Princes  and  nolle  lords.  a.  iv. — 1. 

Omit  noble. 

HENRY  IV.—PAKT  I. 

207.         No  more  the  thirsty  entrance  of  this  soil 

Shall  daub  her  lips  with  her  own  children's  blood ; 
No  more  shall  trenching  war  channel  her  fields. 
Read   vengeance.  a.  i. — 1. 

The  her,  thrice  repeated,  must  in  each  instance  refer  to  the  same 
person,  to  this  soil,  land,  country,  England. 

209.         Ten  thousand  bold  Scots,  two  and  twenty  knights, 

BaWd  in  their  own  blood,  did  Sir  Walter  see. 
Read   latlid.  a.  i. — 1. 

225.         With  nobility  and  tranquillity.  a.  ii — 1. 

Read  gentility. 

249.         And  then  he  runs  straiglitly  and  evenly.       a.  iii. — 1. 
Read  straight,  fair. 

"  In  a  new  channel  fair  and  evenly." 
264  For  therein  should  we  read 

The  very  bottom  and  the  soul  of  hope.  a.  iv-. — 1. 

Read  of. 

"  The  very  bottom  of  my  soul." — Henry  V.,  a.  ii. — 2. 

265.         But  yet  I  would  your  father  had  been  here. 
The  quality  and  hair  of  our  attempt 
Brooks  no  division.  a.  iv. — 1. 

Read   dare. 
Mark  Hotspur's  pointed  reply : — 

"  A  larger  dare  to  our  great  enterprize, 

Than  if  the  earl  were  here." 

Are  not  quality  and  hair  somewhat  tautological  ?    I  find  Mr.  Staunton 
has  also  proposed  this  emendation. 

278.         Suspicion  all  our  lives  shall  be  stuck  full  of  eyes. 
Read  always  lives.  a.  v. — 2. 

"  Suspicion  always  haunts  the  guilty  mind." 

Henry  VI.,  Part  III. 
"  For  slander  Ii ves  upon  succession." 

Comedy  of  Errors,  a.  iii. — 1. 

c 


IS  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

HENEY  IV.— PART  II. 

345.         Compare  with  Cresars  and  with  Cannibals, 

And  Trojan  Greeks  ?  a.  ii. — 4. 

Read   Hannibals. 

It  seems  utterly  impossible  Pistol  could  ha\Te  made  such  a  blunder  ; 
for  Gower,  speaking  of  him,  says,  "  Such  fellows  are  perfect  in  the  great 
commanders'  names  :  and  they  will  learn  you  by  rote,  where  services  were 
done.1' — Henry  V.,  a.  iii. — 5.  By  "  Trojan  Greeks,"  Pistol  in  his  off-hand 
manner  merely  means  the  Greeks  before  Troy,  Agamemnon,  Achilles,  &c. 

352.         A  watch-case  or  a  common  Alarum-bell.        a.  iii. — 1. 
Read  for. 

352.  Deny  it  to  a  king  ?     Then,  happy  low,  lie  down. 
Omit  it  to.     Read  hoy. 

353.  Why,  then,  good  morrow  to  you  all,  my  lords. 

Read   also,  lords.  a.  iii. — 1. 

364         Let  us  sway  on  and  face  them  in  the  field,    a.  iv. — 1. 
Read  set. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  act,  Mowbray  says, — 

"  Shall  we  go  draw  our  numbers  and  set  on." 

372.         I  promis'd  you  redress  of  these  same  grievances. 
Read  griefs.  a.  iv. — 2. 

"  These  griefs  shall  be  with  speed  redress'd." 


HENRY  V. 

427.         And  rather  choose  to  hide  them  in  a  net, 

Than  amply  to  imbare  their  crooked  titles,      a.  i. — 2. 
Read  emblaze. 
The  folio  has  imbarre,  a  mere  misprint  of  imbace  in  the  quartos. 

439.         Would  have  him  punish'd.     And  now  to  our  French 

causes. 

Who  are  the  late  commissioners  ?  a.  ii. — 2 

Omit  and.  Read  "who're  the  commissioners?"  omitting  late. 

439.         And  me,  my  royal  sovereign.  a.  ii. — 2. 

Omit  royal. 

443.         For  his  nose  was  as  sharp  as  a  pen,  and  'a  babbled  of 
green  fields.  a.  ii. — 3. 

Read  pin. 

The  folio  has — "  as  a  pen  and  a  table  of  greene  fields."  Table  being 
an  acknowledged  error,  we  may  reasonably  suspect  pen  is  a  misprint  for 
pin.  Table  and  pen  should  go  together, — sharp  as  the  critic's  pen  on  a 
table  of  green  frieze. 

451.         Bard.  On,  on,  on,  on,  on  !  to  the  breach,  to  the  breach ! 
Nym.  Pray  th.ee,  corporal,  stay.  a.  iii. — 1 . 

Read  "  On,  on,  on,  corporal,  on,  on." 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  19 

We  may  feel  confident,  '  corporal'  has  slipped  from  the  line  above  ; 
the  verse  requires  it. 

In  the  First  Part  of  Henry  IV.,  Peto  is  Falstaff  s  lieutenant,  and 
Bardolph  has  no  specified  rank.  But  in  the  Second  Part,  Bardolph  is 
called  Corporal  by  Pistol,  and  also  by  Bullcalf  and  Mouldy.  Conse- 
quently, when  Falstaff  at  the  very  end  of  the  play  says,  "Come, 
Lieutenant  Pistol,  come  Bardolph,"  most  probably  it  is  an  error  of  the 
press,  and  we  should  read,  "  Come,  Lieutenant  Bardolph,"  who  here 
receives  his  promotion,  just  as  Prince  Henry,  at  the  end  of  King  John, 
is  addressed  "  My  noble  lord"  being  then  King.  In  the  first  scene  where 
these  worthies  appear  in  Henry  V.,  the  poet  is  exceedingly  precise  about 
their  rank : — 

Bard.  Well  met,  Corporal  Nym.* 

Nym.  Good  morrow,  Lieutenant  Bardolph. 

Bard.  What,  are  Ancient  Pistol  and  you  friends  yet  ?"  a.  ii. — 1. 

Therefore  when  Bardolph,  a  few  sentences  further  on,  says,  "Good 
lieutenant — good  corporal — offer  nothing  here,"  we  cannot  doubt  lieutenant, 
is  a  misprint  for  ancient.  That  these  errors  ought  not  to  be  attributed  to 
the  poet,  is  proved  by — "  There  is  an  ancient  lieutenant  there,"  a.  iii. — 5. 
Folio.  Old  Homer  may  nod,  and  Milton  nap,  but  Shakspere  never,  wide- 
awake ever. 

455.         Of  heady  murder.  a.  iii. — 2. 

Read  hideous. 

"  Hideous  death." — King  John,  a.  v.  4. 

468.         Investing  lank-lean  cheeks  and  war-worn  coats. 

Chorus  at  the  end  of  Act  3. 

Read   "  And  war-worn  coats,  investing  lank-lean  chests" 
"  The  clergy's  bags  are  lank  and  lean." 

477.  The  sense  of  reckoning,  if  the  opposed  numbers. 
Read   lest,  a. — iv.  1. 
The  folio  has  of ;  evidently  the  composito^Vas  thinking  merely  of  the 

line  itself,  and  not  of  the  sentence.  I  find,  lest  was  also  proposed  by 
Theobald.  In  the  quarto  we  have  : — 

"  That  the  apposed  multitudes  which  stand  before  them 

May  nut  appall  their  courage." 
According  to  Johnson,  "lest"  may  be  resolved  into  "  that  not'" 

478.  And  dout  them  with  superfluous  courage,  ha  ! 
Read   daunt.  a.  iv. — 2. 
The  folio  has  doubt,  to  awe,  a  very  easy  misprint,  letter  for  letter  ; 

but  Shakspere  never  uses  it  in  that  sense.  Dout  is  contra-indicated  by 
if  they  "  weep  our  horses'  blood,  how  shall  we,  then,  behold  their  natural 
tears  ?"  Compare  the  passage  with  the  last  lines  of  the  Constable's 
speech.  The  English  language,  like  the  British  constitution,  happily 
allows  great  liberties,  and  them  may  refer  to  English  comprised  in 
"  English  eyes."  Mount  your  horses  and  daunt  the  English  by  incising, 
&c., — a  parenthesis.  I  find,  daunt  was  proposed  by  Tyrwhitt,  and  is 
inserted  in  the  text  in  Reed's  Shakspere. 

*  As  Nym  is  called  Corporal  in  the  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,  the  action  of  the 
comedy  must  be  placed  between  Henry  IV.  and  V.  ;  and  as  he  is  also  Corporal  in 
the  quarto,  it  follows  Shakspere  must  already  in  1592  have  sketched  out  these 
plays,  and  perhaps  as  early  as  1590. 


2Q  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

HENRY  VI. 

We  now  come  to  three  plays,  the  three  parts  of  Henri/  VI. ; 
about  which  there  still  exists  "  a  slight  contention."  The 
great  success  of  the  Henry  VI.,  noticed  by  Nash  with  over- 
flowing houses,  argues  a  new  play  ;  but  Shakspere's  Henry  VI. 
[the  First  Part]  was  most  probably  brought  out  before 
Christmas,  1590.  This  opinion  is  supported  not  merely  by 
its  general  inferiority,  but  especially  by  the  scenes  between 
Talbot  and  his  son  being  in  rhyme.  The  objection  of  passages 
reminding  us  of  an  older  school  again  argues  it  to  be  an  early 
production ;  for  it  would  be  a  most  singular  fact  if  Shakspere 
was  not  influenced  by  the  example  of  his  seniors,  Kyd,  Peele, 
and  Greene,  and  especially  by  the  success  of  Marlowe,  a  man 
of  his  own  age,  and  in  popular  opinion  a  far  more  powerful 
genius,  the  Byron  of  his  day,  as  Greene  was  the  Scott ;  and 
does  not  Greene  say,  "  Supposes  he  is  as  well  able  to  bombast 
out  a  blank-verse  as  the  best  of  you." 

In  this  celebrated  passage  in  the  Groatsworth  of  Wit,  Greene 
accuses  Shakspere  of  being  "a  crow  beautified  with  our 
feathers,"  and  an  ape  imitating  their  excellencies.  To  the 
latter  charge  he  is  certainly  liable,  since  in  Titus  Andronicus 
and  in  the  First  Part  of  Henry  VI.  we  are  occasionally  re- 
minded rather  of  the  flights  of  Marlowe's  Pegasus  than  of  the 
Swan  of  Avon.  But  that  Greene  "  by  our  feathers  "  intended 
to  insinuate  Shakspere  had  re-modelled  and  re-written  a  play 
or  plays  composed  by  himself,  or  in  conjunction  with  Marlowe 
and  Peele,  I  cannot  believe ;  and  such  an  interpretation  is 
assuredly  a  very  forced  construction.  Had  both  or  either  of 
the  two  parts  of  the  Contention  been  written  by  Marlowe  and 
Greene,  we  may  feel  confident  Greene,  strong  in  the  frailty  of 
the  flesh,  would  not  have  been  satisfied  with  a  sneer,  but 
would  in  his  then  justifiable  wrath  have  stated  the  circum- 
stance, exposing  Shakspere  as  the  worthless  creature,  that 
scrupled  not  to  rob  his  fellow-dramatists  of  their  honours  and 
their  bread. 

But  we  must  not  omit  the  important  fact,  that  against  this 
scurrilous  attack  Shakspere  indignantly  remonstrated,  and 
that  Chettle,  the  publisher,  expressed  his  regret  in  words 
highly  honourable  to  Shakspere ;  and  Nash  designated  the 
book  "  a  scald,  trivial,  lying  pamphlet."  Little  weight,  how- 
ever, appears  to  be  attached  either  to  Nash's  testimony  or  to 
Shakspere's  remonstrance,  whilst  a  full  and  overflowing  cre- 
dence has  been  given  to  the  accusation.  As  for  the  lines  in 
Greene's  Funerals,  the  charge  is  universal ;  and  how  far  Nash, 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  21 

Lodge,  Peele,  even  Marlowe,  and  others,  who  may  have  been 
joined  with  Greene  in  writing  plays,  "purloyn'd  his  plumes," 
does  not  affect  the  present  subject.  Such  idle  accusations, 
without  any  definite  charge,  more  frequently  deserve  contempt 
than  credit. 

Marlowe  wrote  six  plays,  acknowledged  to  be  his  ; — Tam- 
"burlaine  in  two  parts  was  produced  in  1586  ;  Faustus  before 
Christmas,  1588  ;  the  date  of  the  Jew  of  Malta  is  uncertain, 
but  as  it  is  first  noticed  in  Henslowe's  Diary,  Feb.  26,  1592, 
and  is  also  mentioned  by  Nash,  and  had  a  great  run  during 
that  season,  we  may  infer,  it  was  then  a  new  play ;  for  in  those 
days  a  new  play  was  all  the  rage,  just  like  a  new  novel  now- 
adays. Consequently  when  Ferneze,  on  seeing  the  dead  body 
of  his  son,  exclaims,  "These  arms  of  mine  shall  be  thy 
sepulchre,"  we  may  suspect  Marlowe  had  in  his  recollection, 
"  Now  my  old  arms  are  young  John  Talbot's  grave."  Again 
the  line,  "  But  stay,  what  star  shines  yonder  in  the  east,"  may 
be  a  reminiscence  of, 

"  But  soft !  what  light  through  yonder  window  breaks  ? 
It  is  the  east,  and  Juliet  is  the  sun  !  " 

Nor  should  it  be  overlooked,  these  images  in  Shakspere  are 
as  natural  as  poetical,  whilst  in  Marlowe  they  are  out  of  place 
and  mere  forced  conceits.  This  last  resemblance,  conjoined 
with  others,  and  with  couplets  at  the  end  of  the  scenes, 
together  with  its  great  success  as  an  acting  play  throughout 
the  season  of  1592,  leads  to  the  conviction  the  Jew  of  Malta 
was  composed  in  the  autumn  of  1591,  and  brought  on  the 
stage  not  long  before  February  26,  1592.  The  Massacre  at 
Paris  appears  to  have  been  first  acted  January  30,  1593. 
These  five  plays  belonged  to  Alleyn's  company,  and  all  bear 
the  stamp  of  Marlowe  ;  no  one  can  doubt  the  authorship ;  but 
Edviard  II.  is  a  chaster  and  more  studied  composition,  void 
of  his  "  raptures,"  and  "  taken  as  a  whole,  it  is  the  most  perfect 
of  his  plays  :  there  is  no  overdoing  of  character,  no  turgidity 
of  language."  As  this  play  does  not  appear  in.  Henslowe's 
Diary,  but  was  entered  in  the  stationers'  books,  July  6,  1593, 
we  may  reasonably  infer  it  was  Marlowe's  last  production  ; 
and  that  it  was  written  in  a  competitive  spirit  as  a  rival  to 
the  second  part  of  the  Contention,  as  the  Massacre  at  Paris 
was  to  the  first  part. 

The  various  resemblances  between  the  Contention  and 
Edward  II.,  which  have  been  adduced  in  support  of  Marlowe's 
claim,  are  consequently  so  many  feathers  plucked  by  this 
buzzard  eagle  from  the  wings  of  the  swan ;  and  if  Shakspere 


22  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAK9PERE. 

in  return  has  purloined  a  plume  from  him, — "  She  bears  a 
duke's  revenues  on  her  back,"  it  is  taken  from  a  passage, 
where  Mortimer  abuses  Gaveston,  in  imitation  of  Queen 
Margaret's  railing  at  the  Duchess  of  Gloster. 

Of  the  history  of  the  two  parts  of  the  Contention,  which 
bear  the  same  relation  to  the  second  and  third  parts  of 
Henry  VI.  as  the  Hamlet  of  1603  to  that  of  1604,  nothing  is 
known  beyond  the  title-page  of  the  second  part,  or  True 
Tragedy  of  Richard  Duke  of  York,  which  tells  us  it  had  been 
acted  by  "  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  his  servants,"  prima  facie 
evidence  against  Shakspere's  claim.  But  in  those  days  it  was 
a  common  practice  for  one  company  to  get  surreptitiously 
from  another  company  a  popular  play,  either  by  reporters  or 
possibly  by  bribing  a  player  for  a  copy  or  parts  thereof ;  and 
thus  by  similar  means  the  play  might  at  last  find  its  way  to 
the  press  in  a  more  or  less  perfect  form.  We  must  then  look 
to  the  internal  contents  of  the  plays  for  the  evidence  of 
authorship ;  but  here  our  authorities  differ,  some  attributing 
the  plays  to  Shakspere,  others  to  Marlowe,  or  to  him  conjoined 
with  Greene  and  Peele  ;  others,  again,  regard  them  as  con- 
taining the  first  additions  made  by  Shakspere  to  the  originals ; 
and,  lastly,  it  is  supposed  they  may  be  piratical  publications 
of  the  second  and  third  parts  of  Henry  VI.  When  autho- 
rities thus  differ,  and  doctors  disagree  so  widely  and  so  vari- 
ously at  all  points  of  the  compass,  the  patient's  safety  probably 
lies  in  trusting  to  nature ;  and  by  such  an  appeal  Solomon 
settled  the  parentage  of  the  child,  and  to  these  plays  Shakspere 
was  no  wet-nurse,  no  cold  step-mother,  but  the  tender,  doting 
parent ;  and  as  the  Indian  squaw  imagines  her  dirty,  greasy 
brat  the  sweetest  babe  that  ever  breathed,  so  with  no  less 
fondness  Shakspere  nursed  his  "  sweet  Contention!' 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  observed,  the  two  parts  of  the 
Contention  are  not  more  intimately  connected  together  than 
they  are  with  the  first  part  of  Henry  VI.  and  with  Richard  III. 
This  point  the  reader  may  easily  settle  by  reference  to  his 
Shakspere,  since  the  opening  speech  in  the  first  part  and  the 
last  scene  in  the  second  part  are  retained  almost  verbatim  in 
the  amended  plays. 

In  the  first  scene  of  the  first  part,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Queen's  speech  and  a  few  additional  lines,  the  text  is  re- 
tained with  slight  variations  to  the  end  of  Gloster's  speech, 
"  Undoing  all,  as  all  had  never  been  ;"  and  the  speech  of  York 
is  also  retained,  forming  the  last  twenty-four  lines  in  the 
scene.  In  the  intervening  portion  there  has  been  a  consider- 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  23 

able  alteration  in  the  distribution  of  the  speeches,  and  even 
sentences  have  been  taken  from  one  speaker  and  given  to 
another ;  and  although  much  has  been  added,  nearly  as  many 
lines  again,  yet  nothing  is  lost,  nearly  every  line  has  been 
retained,  many  entire,  others  more  or  less  amended,  and  what 
is  remarkable,  the  lines, — 

"  The  reverence  of  mine  age,  a  Nevil's  name, 
Is  of  no  little  force  if  I  command," 

are  omitted  in  Salisbury's  speech,  and  reappear  in  the  third 
scene,  where  Suffolk  says  : — 

"And  he  of  these  that  can  do  most  of  all 
Cannot  do  more  in  England  than  the  N  evils  ; 
Salisbury  and  Warwick  are  no  simple  peers." 

Had  this  minute  reconstruction,  this  singular  fidelity  to  the 
conceptions  of  the  author,  this  thorough  intimacy  and  mastery 
of  the  subject,  been  confined  to  the  first  scene,  it  would  have 
been  of  little  value  ;  but  we  find  it  is  carried  on  throughout 
the  play,  together  with  numerous  psssages  retained  with  only 
slight  verbal  alterations,  as  the  fight  between  Homer  and 
Peter,  and  the  quarrel  between  Suffolk  and  Warwick,  and 
Suffolk's  curses  in  the  second  scene  of  the  third  act.  Further, 
in  the  fourth  act,  the  jokes  about  "sore  laws"  and  "parch- 
ment," smacking  of  Hamlet,  are  transposed,  the  one  from  the 
second  to  the  seventh,  and  the  other  from  the  seventh  to  the 
second  scene.  These  low  comic  passages,  in  which  we  seem 
to  have  the  germs  of  the  constables  in  Much  Ado  about  Nothing, 
could  not  have  been  written  by  Marlowe,  who  had  no  humour 
in  him. 

These  additions  and  alterations  are  not  like  the  "new 
adycyons,"  made  for  a  few  shillings  to  Jeronymo  or  Faustus, 
nor  like  the  scenes  added  to  the  Malcontent,  but  a  recomposi- 
tion,  and  it  is  only  by  actual  inspection  and  comparison  the 
reader  can  understand  how  closely  the  text  has  been  adhered 
to  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  believe  Shakspere  could  have  taken 
such  a  singular  interest  in  the  play  had  he  not  been  the 
original  author. 

Although  I  was  no  less  surprised  than  delighted  to  find 
such  valuable  evidence  in  favour  of  Shakspere's  claim  to  the 
first  part  of  the  Contention,  yet  on  looking  into  the  second 
part,  or  the  True  Tragedy  of  Richard  Duke  of  York,  so  gene- 
rally attributed  to  Greene  and  Marlowe,  and  on  which  Shaks- 
pere- is  supposed  to  have  founded  the  third  part  of  Henry  VI., 
still  greater  was  my  astonishment  on  discovering  that  the 
first  scene  is  retained  almost  word  for  word  to  "  Enter  Margaret 


24  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

and  the  Prince  of  Wales,"  where  some  additions  are  made.  The 
second  scene  is  also  the  same,  with  only  unimportant  altera- 
tions ;  the  third  scene  the  same,  Kutland's  speech  slightly 
altered,  but  Clifford's  is  word  for  word,  or  with  merely  trivial 
changes.  In  the  fourth  scene,  York's  speech  is  enlarged,  but 
from  "Enter  Queen  Margaret,  Clifford,  &c.,"  the  whole  scene, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  lines  and  a  word  here  and  there 
altered,  is  absolutely  word  for  word  with  the  original.  In  the 
next  three  acts  there  is  nearly  the  same  fidelity  to  the  text, 
but  with  considerable  additions.  In  the  fourth  act,  the  fourth 
and  fifth  and  also  the  sixth  and  seventh  scenes  are  trans- 
posed ;  but  this  alteration  is  no  remodelling,  merely  a  restora- 
tion of  two  scenes  that  had  been  misplaced  by  the  careless- 
ness of  the  reporter  or  printer.  There  is  in  the  fourth  act  a 
slight  change,  a  genuine  remodelling,  marking  Shakspere's 
fidelity  to  the  original,  and  no  less  creditable  to  his  judgment. 
In  the  third  scene  Clarence  says, — 

<f  To  tell  the  Queen  of  our  happy  fortunes, 
And  bid  her  come  with  speed  to  join  with  us." 

This  speech,  in  the  amended  play,  is  transferred  to  the  sixth 
scene, — 

K.  Henry.  "  That  Margaret,  your  queen,  and  my  son  Edward 

Be  sent  for,  to  return  from  France  with  speed. 
Cla.  It  shall  be  done,  my  sovereign,  with  all  speed." 

Again,  in  the  fifth  act,  the  last  three  scenes  are  retained,  with 
only  a  few  verbal  changes  and  a  few  lines  added.  Thus  all 
the  grand  and  most  interesting  passages  in  the  play,  as  the 
deaths  of  York  and  Henry,  belong  to  the  original  author ;  and 
if  Shakspere  did  not  write  the  True  Tragedy,  he  has  no  more 
claim  to  the  third  part  of  Henry  VI.  than  the  gipsy  to  the 
stolen  child,  which  he  has  copper-coloured  with  some  che- 
mical wash,  and  dressed  up  in  ornamental  rags  ;  for  the 
additions,  however  beautiful  in  themselves,  are  comparatively 
unimportant  and  of  little  value  ;  and  yet  they  are  of  a  most 
singular  value,  for  being  so  skilfully  and  so  minutely  inter- 
woven, and  so  completely  of  the  same  texture,  they  give 
shape,  fullness,  and  consistency  to  the  original,  like  a  raw- 
boned  youth  passing  into  manhood,  and  force  upon  us  the 
conviction  that  Shakspere  himself  must  have  been  the  author. 
Nor  do  I  see  any  grounds  for  attributing  these  plays  to 
Marlowe ;  the  versification  alone  rejects  him,  resembling  far 
more  Shakspere's  easy-flowing  verse  than  his  stilted  and 
monotonous  lines.  Still  Marlowe  of  "the  mighty  line"  was 
a  great  poet,  and  none  the  less  for  his  recognition  and  subjec- 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  25 

tion  to  the  influence  of  Shakspere's  genius ;  and  his  early 
death  is  to  be  regretted,  since,  reaching  at  the  stars,  he  might 
have  been  a  Finster-Aarhorn  by  the  side  of  Mont  Blanc,  but 
that  was  reserved  for  "rocky  Ben,"  cold  piercing  intellect 
versus  warm  brooding  genius. 

Let  Shakspere  be  judged  by  himself.  In  the  Merchant  of 
Venice  what  does  he  owe  to  Marlowe's  Jew  ?  what  to  his 
King  John,  or  to  the  Taming  of  a  Shrew,  to  the  Famous 
Victories,  or  to  the  True  Tragedy  of  Richard  III.,  to  Promos 
and  Cassandra,  or  to  Xing  Leir  ?  Is  it  not,  then,  a  more 
reasonable  conjecture,  apart  from  other  considerations,  the 
two  parts  of  the  Contention  are  the  poet's  own  first  sketches, 
rather  than  he  should  have  acted  in  a  manner  so  unfriendly 
and  so  offensive  to  Marlowe  and  Greene  ? 

Yet,  notwithstanding  these  facts,  and  these  reasonable  in- 
ferences, the  contrary  opinion  is  held  by  high  authorities. 
Why  Shakspere,  of  whom  "  divers  of  worship  have  reported 
his  uprightness  of  dealing  which  argues  his  honesty,"  should 
thus  be  treated  by  successive  commentators  as  a  magpie  steal- 
ing pearls,  or  a  stork  among  frogs,  merely  on  the  spiteful  and 
uncertain  remark  of  a  jealous,  envious,  and  disappointed 
writer,  forms  a  curious  episode  in  the  history  of  literature, — 

"  More  strange  than  true  ;  I  never  may  believe 
These  antique  fables,  editorial  toys." 

Since  writing  the  foregoing  observations,  I  have  had  an 
opportunity  of  reading  Marlowe's  King  John,  ed.  1611 ;  and 
I  was  forcibly  struck  by  Philip's  trance  or  dream,  reminding 
me  of  Suffolk's  first  interview  with  Margaret,  and  the  impres- 
sion was  confirmed  by  the  words,  "  fond  man," — "  what  cooling 
card  is  this  ? "  whilst  "  confound  my  wits  and  dull  my  senses 
so "  must  be  a  reminiscence  of  "  confounds  the  tongue  and 
makes  the  senses  crutch."  These  resemblances  cannot  be 
accidental,  and  it  is  infinitely  more  probable  Marlowe  was 
fascinated  by  the  scene  between  Suffolk  and  Margaret  rather 
than  Shakspere  should,  beggarly,  have  picked  up  these  scat- 
tered scraps,  pp.  227,  283,  302.  Hence  it  follows,  the  first 
sketch  of  Henry  VI.,  first  part,  preceded  Marlowe's  King  John; 
and  the  oft-quoted  lines,  "  Lift  up  thy  hand,"  and  "  Let  Eng- 
land live  but  true  within  itself,"  justify  the  suspicion,  the  two 
parts  of  the  Contention  also  preceded  it ;  so  that  these  three 
plays  must  have  been  brought  out  before  Christmas,  1590; 
and  in  the  Comedy  of  Errors  the  "  hair  reverted  "  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  first  premonitory  symptom  of  the  historic 
seizure. 


2(3  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

Accidental  circumstances  may  have  induced  Shakspere  to 
postpone  the  first  sketch  of  Richard  III.  till  after  the  com- 
position of  Romeo  and  Juliet,  in  the  Spring  of  1591,  at  which 
time  Marlowe  must  have  written  his  King  John.  I  may  here 
add,  if  Marlowe  was  a  profound  classical  scholar,  Shakspere, 
we  may  be  certain,  was  no  less  deep-read  in  English,  and  of 
course  familiar  with  the  following  passage  : — "  If  they,  the 
English,  were  true  within  themselves,  they  need  not  to  fear, 
although  all  nations  were  set  against  them."  Fyrst  Bdke  of  the 
Introduction  of  Knowledge,  1 542. 


HENKY  VI— PART  I. 

VOL.  V. 

20.  And  make  a  quagmire  of  your  mingled  brains,  a.  i. — 4. 
Read  mangled. 

Shaksperian  emendating  may  be  a  veritable  quagmire  of  mingled 
brains,  but  here,  I  opine,  "  mingled  "  is  wretchedly  feeble  for  a  man  in 
a  rage. 

21.  Kescu'd  is  Orleans  from  the  English.  a.  i. — 5. 
Read  English  foe. 

"  The  cruel  foe," — "  prejudice  the  foe,"  say  Charles  and  Pucelle, 
pp.  47,  49. 

51.         Like  to  a  trusty  squire,  did  run  away.  a.  iv. — 1. 

Read  treacherous. 

"  A  master-leaver  and  a  fugitive." 

PART  II. 

111.         Gloster,  York,  Buckingham,  Somerset.  a.  i. — 1 

Read  and  Somerset. 

In  the  Contention,  we  have  "  and  Buckingham,"  a  mere  misplacement. 
126.  False  fiend  avoid  !  a.  i. — 4 

Read  hence. 

"  Hence,  avoid  my  sight,"  says  Lear. 

134.        "Where  as  all  you  know.  a.  ii. — 2. 

Read  well. 

151.         Whiles  I  in  Ireland  nourish  a  mighty  band.  a.  iii. — 1. 

Read  raise. 

This  emendation  is  supported  by  "  raise  commotion "  in  the  Conten- 
tion, altered  to  make  in  this  play.  "  Shouldst  raise  so  great  a  power," 
a.  v.— 1,  p.  188. 

165.        Be  counterpois'd  with  such  a  petty  sum.       a.  iv. — 1. 
Read  be  n't. 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  27 

182.         Given  out  these  arms.  a.  iv. — 8. 

Read  up. 
"  Little  vulgar  boy  "  may  give  out  or  in,  surrender  v.  n.,  but  not  v.  a. 

196.         Aged  contusions  and  all  brush  of  time, 

And,  like  a  gallant  in  the  brow  of  youth.        a.  v. — 3. 
Read  abuse  and  prime. 

"  How  well  resembles  it  the  prime  of  youth." 

Third  Part,  a.  il— 1.,  p.  252. 

"  In  my  prime  of  youth;' — Richard  III.,  a.  v. — 3.,  p.  445. 
"  From  the  corruption  of  abusing  time." 

Richard  III.,  a.  iii. — 7.,  p.  414. 

196.          Well,  lords,  we  have  not  got  that  which  we  have. 
Read  crave.  a.  v. — 3. 

PART  III. 

275.         Ay,  widow  ?  then  I'll  warrant  you  all  your  lands. 
Omit  all ;  see  the  other  "  lands."  a.  iii. — 2. 

But  warrant  is  a  monosyllable  in  Goriolanus,  "  I  warrant  him  consul," 
p.  165;  unless  we  read  "  I  warrant'm." 

285.         Proud  setter-up  and  puller-down  of  kings,  a.  iii. — 3. 

Omit  the  line  ;  a  mouthing  player's  interpolation,  and  incompatible 
with  the  rest  of  the  speech  ;  nor  is  it  likely  the  proud  Queen,  who  says 
"  our  Warwick,"  would  address  her  subject  by  such  a  title.  But  it  well 
suits  the  arrogant  character  of  Warwick  afterwards  to  say  to  King 
Edward,  "  Confess  who  set  thee  up  and  plack'd  thee  down." 

297.         Read  K.  Edw.  But  whither  shall  we  then  ? 
Host.        To  Lynn,  my  lord. 
K.  Edw.  And  ship  from  thence  to  Flanders  ? 
Hast.        Well  guess'd,  &c.  a.  iv. — 5. 

301.        A  wise  stout  captain,  and  soon  persuaded  !  a.  iv. — 7. 

Read  faith  after  "  captain." 
The  True  Tragedy  has  "by  my  faith." 

303.         With  hasty  Germans.  a.  iv. — 8. 

Read  hardy. 

"  For  hardy  and  undoubted  champions,"  p.  319. 

311.         The  friends  of  France  our  shrouds  and  tacklings? 

Read  our  and  the. 
A  mere  transposition.     "  Our  slaughter7  d  friends  the  tackles." 

315.         If  this  foul  deed  were  by  to  equal  it.  a.  v. — 5. 

Read  rival. 

"  To  stand  in  competition  with." — Johnson. 


28  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

RICHAKD  III. 

394.         Weigh  it  but  with  the  progress  of  this  age.  a.  iii. — 1. 

Mead  looseness. 

Be  not  too  strict,  too  ceremonious. 

445.         Mortal-stormy  war.  a.  v. — 3. 

Read  bearing — death-bearing. 

448.        I  died  for  hope,  'ere  I  could  lend  thee  aid.     a.  v. — 3. 
Read  my. 

"  Brave  Burgundy,  undoubted  hope  of  France  ! " 


HENRY  VIII. 

It  is  not  likely  this  play  was  produced  in  1601,  immediately 
after  the  death  of  Essex,  and  whilst  Southampton  was  in 
prison  and  in  imminent  danger  of  his  life  ;  nor  is  it  probable 
Shakspere  would  have  written  it,  or  the  King's  actors  have 
performed  it,  in  the  summer  of  1604,  considering  how  offensive 
to  James  was  the  memory  of  Elizabeth ;  that  Shakspere  did 
not  then  compose  it  we  may  infer  from  the  alteration  in  the 
amended  Hamlet,  where,  instead  of  "  the  funeral  rites  are  all 
performed,"  Laertes  says,  "  to  show  my  duty  in  your  corona- 
tion." "Recently  attempts  have  been  made  to  prove  that 
portions  of  it  were  composed  by  Fletcher,"  but  as  these  por- 
tions include  the  finest  passages  in  the  play,  Wolsey's  farewell 
and  Cranmer's  speech,  the  supposition  of  Fletcher's  assistance 
becomes  scarcely  tenable ;  nor  should  it  be  overlooked,  that 
the  lines  commencing,  "  nor  shall  this  peace  sleep  with  her," 
have  been  by  others  attributed  to  Jonson.  Further,  Beaumont 
and  Fletcher's  plays  are  all  constructed  on  a  double  plot  with 
two  sets  of  characters,  which  are  connected  together  only  in 
two  or  three  scenes.  Again  in  Eastward  Hoe,  the  first  act  is 
written  by  Jonson,  the  second  and  third  by  Marston,  and  the 
last  two  by  Chapman,  but  with  fresh  characters  as  the  play 
proceeds  ;  whilst  in  the  Malcontent  Webster  has  merely  made 
some  additions  to  a  play  which  had  already  been  acted.*  But 
in  Henry  VIII.,  according  to  this  new  theory,  the  characters 
are  handled  by  Shakspere  and  Fletcher  indifferently,  the 
more  important  scenes,  however,  being  given  to  the  latter; 
consequently  the  editors  of  the  folio  are  liable  to  the  imputa- 

*  These  additions  may,  I  think,  on  a  careful  examination  be  satisfactorily  dis- 
tinguished. The  Induction,  it  is  agreed,  was  written  by  Webster ;  the  other 
scenes  aud  passages  composed  by  him  are  : — the  third  scene  in  the  first  act ;  the 
passage  from  "Enter  Biancha"  to  "Exeunt  Biancha  and  Passarello/'  in  the  first 
scene  of  the  third  act ;  the  first  scene  in  the  fifth  act ;  and  the  passage  in  the 
second  scene  from  "Enter  Passarello  with  ivine"  to  "  Exit;"  in  fact,  Passarello 
is  a  new  character  added  by  Webster. 


NEW  READINGS  IN  BHAKSPERE.  £9 

tion  of  a  gross  swindle,  though,  happily  for  their  credit, 
Fletcher  made  no  protest  nor  ever  claimed  his  noblest  pro- 
duction. But  on  looking  into  the  third  scene  of  the  first  act 
of  the  Loyal  Subject  the  reader  will  be  satisfied,  the  hand  that 
wrote  the  "  farewells  "  of  old  Archas  did  not  write  the  fare- 
wells of  Buckingham  and  Wolsey.  Shakspere  has  imitated 
Marlowe  in  the  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  and  Marston  in 
King  Lear,  and  in  Henry  VIIL,  Katherine's  lecture  to  the  two 
cardinals,  "The  more  shame  for  ye,"  &c.,  is  an  admirable 
imitation  of  Fletcher's  versification,  the  likeness  made  perfect 
by  the  frequent  'ye?  but  this  monosyllable  constantly  occurs 
in  Cavendish's  narrative,  and  Shakspere  himself  opens  the 
play  with  "  How  have  ye  done  ?  " 

486.         Must  fetch  him  in  he  papers.  a.  i. — 1. 

Head  pleases. 

"  As  himself   pleas'd  ;" — "  as  lie  pleases  ;" — "  into  what    pitch   he 
pleases,"  &c.,  pp.  489,  490,  511. 

488.        A  beggar's  look.  a.  i. — 1. 

Read  hook. 

Rather  than  crook,  more  contemptuous. 

491.         I  am  the  shadow  of  poor  Buckingham, 

Whose  figure  even  this  instant  cloud  puts  on, 
By  darkening  my  clear  sun.  a.  i. — 1. 

rfi. 

And  with  Steevens  bedarkening. 

494.         A  trembling  contribution.  a.  i. — 2. 

Read  terrible. 

514.         Yet,  if  that  quarrel,  fortune,  do  divorce.  a.  ii — 3 

Read  harlot. 

533.         There's  more  in't  than  fair  visage. — Bullen  !  a.  iii  — 2. 
Read  "  there's  something  more." 
"  There's  something  more  would  out  of  thee  ;  what  say'st  ? " 

a.  i.— 2.  p.  497. 
542.        That  sweet  aspect  of  princes  and  their  ruin. 

Read  frown.  a.  iii. — 2. 

"  He  parted  frowning  from  me,  as  if  ruin  leap'd  from  his  eyes." 

551.         Unwilling  to  outlive  the  good  that  did  it.     a.  iv. — 2. 

Read  one  built. 

"  He  was  a  scholar,  and  a  ripe  and  good  one."     That  seems  borrowed 
from  the  second  line  above. 

562.         In  our  own  natures  frail  and  capable 

Of  our  flesh.  a.  v. — 2. 

Read  fallible. 

"  Out  of  which  frailty  and  want  of  wisdom  ;"  and  so  says  Dr.  Watts, 
"  Frail  and  fallible  in  the  present  state." 


30  NE^  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

TEOILUS  AND  CKESSIDA. 

VOL.  VI. 

7.  Her  gait,  her  voice  ; 

Handiest  in  thy  discourse,  0,  that  her  hand.    a.  i. — 1. 
Read  "  Her  gait,  her  voice, 

Handled  in  thy  discourse." 

Troilus  then  remembers  he  had  omitted  the  hand,  and  exclaims,  "  O, 
that  her  hand  !"  We  have  a  similar,  though  less  agreeable  play  on  the 
word  in  Titus  Andronicus : — 

"  O,  handle  not  the  theme,  to  talk  of  hands,"  a.  iii. — 2. 
"  Spirit  of  sense  "  is  probably  a  sweet-scented  balsam,  soft  as  butter  on 
a  summer's  day. 

17.  Do  you  with  cheeks  abash'd  behold  our  wrecks. 

Read  checks.  a.  i. — 3. 

"  Protractive  trials," — "  checks  and  disasters."    The  folio  has  worlds. 

63.  Sleep  kill  those  pretty  eyes.  a.  iv. — 2 

Read  still. 
71.  Though  the  great  bulk  Achilles  be  thy  guard. 

Read  hulk.  a.  iv. — 4. 

Troilus  afterwards  calls  him,  "  Thou  great  sized  coward." 
"  Harry  Monmouth's  brawn,  the  hulk  Sir  John." 


COEIOLANUS. 

182.  if  he  have  power, 

Then  vail  your  ignorance  ;  if  none,  awake 
Your  dangerous  lenity.  a.  iii. — 1. 

Read  arrogance  and  away. 

"  Would  the  nobility  lay  aside  their  ruth, 
And  let  me  use  my  sword."  a.  i. — 1. 

"  This  too  much  lenity 
And  harmful  pity  must  be  laid  aside." 

Henry  VI.,  Third  Part,  a.  ii.— 2. 

'  Away '  seems  preferable  to  '  away  with,'  as  a  more  probable  misprint, 
and  the  following  passage  appears  to  confirm  the  reading  : — 

«  Well,  I  must  do't  ; 

Away,  my  disposition."  a.  iii. — 2. 

And  "Away  thy  hand,"  says  Hamlet ;  or  "with"  may  be  understood 
as  in  Othello: — 

"  What  conjuration  and  what  mighty  magic 
I  won  his  daughter."  a.  i. — 3. 

200.         My  first  son.  a.  iv. — 1 

Read  dear's*. 

"  Come  my  sweet  wife,  my  dearest  mother." 

219.         And  power,  unto  itself  most  commendable, 
Hath  not  a  tomb  so  evident  as  a  chair 
T'  extol  what  it  hath  done.  a.  iv. — 7. 

Read  entomb. 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SIIAKSPERE.  31 

The  speech  points  to  the  fall  of  greatness,  to  the  evil  interpretation. 
"For  the  authority  which  he  [Pompey]  had  gained  by  his  merit,  he 
employed  for  others  in  a  way  not  very  honourable.;  and  his  reputation 
consequently  sinking  as  they  grew  in  strength,  he  was  insensibly  ruined 
by  the  weight  of  his  own  power,"  p.  170. 

"  As  for  the  persons  who  opposed  his  [Agesilaus]  measures  most,  he 
made  no  open  reprisals  upon  them  ;  but  he  found  means  to  employ 
them  as  generals  or  governors.  When  invested  with  power,  they  soon 
showed  what  unworthy  and  avaricious  men  they  were,  and  in  conse- 
quence were  called  to  account  for  their  proceedings." — P.  89,  Lang- 
horne's  Plutarch. 

222.         For  I  have  ever  magnified  my  friends.  a.  v. — 2. 

Read  deified. 

"  Nay,  godded  me  indeed."     The  folio  has  verified. 

234.        But  to  be  rough,  unswayable,  and.  free.          a.  v.— 6. 
Read  proud. 

234.  Holp  to  reap  the  fame, 

Which  he  did  end  all  his.  a.  v. — 6. 

Read  hertd. 

"  A  well-ended  rick,"  I  am  told,  merely  means  well-dressed. 


TITUS  ANDEONICUS. 

305.        And  with  thai  painted  hope  she  braves  your  mightiness. 

Read  painting.  a.  ii. — 3. 

The  she  was  inserted  in  the  second  folio. 

322.         And  buzz  lamenting  doings  in  the  air  !  a.  iii. — 2. 
Head  his  lamentations. 

331.         And  feed  on  curds  and  whey.  a.  iv. — 2. 

Read  fat. 

A  popular  notion.     "  We  fat  all  creatures  else  to  fat  us." — Hamlet. 

338.         Then  go  successantly,  and  plead  to  him.  a.  iv. — 4. 

Read  you  instantly. 

353.         Give  me  aim  awhile,  a.  v. — 3. 
Read  leave. 

"  Give  me  leave  awhile,"  says  Juliet's  nurse. 


EOMEO  AND  JULIET. 

395.         The  earth  hath  swallow'd  all  my  hopes  but  she, 

She  is  the  hopeful  lady  of  my  earth.  a.  i. — 2. 

Read  hearth. 


32  NEW  READINGS  IN  8HAKSPERE. 

In  Love's  Labour's  Lost  I  have  proposed  it  as  a  rhyme  to  birth,  and  I  find 
Milton  so  uses  it : — 

"  Good  luck  befriend  thee,  son  ;  for  at  thy  birth, 
The  fairy  ladies  danc'd  upon  the  hearth." — Miscellanies. 

432.         That  rude  day's  eyes  may  wink.  a.  iii. — 2. 

Read  no  mans  and  peep. 

"  Nor  heaven  peep  through  the  blanket  of  the  dark." 
The  old  editions  have  runnawayes  and  weep;  the  main  error  seems  to 
lie  in  the  repetition  of  eyes, — "  ayes  eyes  ;"  perhaps  the  word  was  acci- 
dentally repeated  in  the  manuscript,  and  hence  the  corruption. 

"  The  note  on  this  line  in  the  Cambridge  Shdksnere  '  enumerates  no 


less  than  twenty-nine  new  readings,  which  have  been  proposed  by  as 
many  critics.'  " — Notes  and  Queries,  October  21,  1865. 

461.         The  flattering  eye  of  sleep.  a.  v. — 1. 

Read  ruth  with  Warburton. 

Truth  in  the  later  editions  is  a  manifest  error,  and  eye  in  the  first 
quarto  must  be  a  misprint  for  lie,  his  dream. 


TIMON  OF  ATHENS. 

In  ShaJcspere  and  Jonson  I  have  pointed  out  the  intimate 
connexion  between  Timon  and  the  amended  Hamlet,  and  it  is 
just  possible  the  composition  of  the  latter  was  temporarily 
suspended  for  the  production  of  the  former.  The  "  Athenaeum," 
No.  1895,  in  a  candid  and  temperate  article,  whilst  accepting 
Apemantus  and  Thersites,  singularly  rejects  Caliban,  a  far 
better  attested  satire,  and  the  richest  joke  of  all,  for  what  is 
Caliban  but  "  malignant  Ben  "  minus  intellect,  the  toad  with- 
out the  jewel  in  its  head.  When  the  Ee viewer,  however,  styles 
Apemantus  the  retort  uncourteous  to  Asotus,  he  seems  to 
misapprehend  the  subject,  for  we  are  not  to  suppose  the 
abusive  words  of  Timon  are  personalities  directed  solely  at 
Jonson,  that  would  be  debasing  the  genius  of  the  Poet  to  a 
mere  libeller.*  As  Ben  himself  says,  "  they  make  a  libel 
which  I  made  a  play."  Happily  Burke' s  admiration  of  the 
scene  in  the  fourth  act  takes  it  out  of  that  category,  and  pos- 
sibly Shakspere  was  thinking  more  of  Bacon  than  of  Jonson  ;f 

*  "We  beg  leave  to  point  out  an  error  to  Mr.  Hannay.  He  says  that  Mr.  Dickens 
caricatured  Leigh  Hunt  in  one  of  his  novels.  This  is  far  from  exact.  Mr. 
Dickens  has  himself  publicly  explained  that,  although  he  drew  certain  mannerisms 
of  the  character  in  question  from  his  old  friend  [between  whom  and  himself  there 
existed  to  the  last  feelings  of  strong  regard]  he  never  intended  the  character 
itself  as  a  representative  of  the  real  man  ;  and  he  has  expressed  his  regret  that 
such  a  mistake  should  have  been  made." — The  London  Review,  June,  1865. 

f  Coleridge,  speaking  of  Oliver  in  As  You  Like  It,  says,  "  But  I  dare  not  say 
that  this  seeming  unnaturalness  is  not  in  the  nature  of  an  abused  wilfulness, 
when  united  with  a  strong  intellect."  This  remark  is  not  less  applicable  to 
Sir  Robert  Cecil  than  to  Jonson,  and  not  only  in  this  instance,  but  in  lago  and 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  33 

nor  should  it  be  overlooked,  that  Marston  after  the  recon- 
ciliation actually  dedicates  to  Jonson  the  Malcontent,  in  which 
he  had  certainly  belaboured  his  friend  not  over  gently  ;  such 
a  fact  ought  to  suffice,  that  the  poets  regarded  these  characters 
rather  in  a  dramatic  than  personal  sense.  When  Jonson,  how- 
ever, in  after  life,  says  of  Shakspere,  "  he  was,  indeed,  honest 
and  of  an  open  and  free,  nature,"  we  may  suspect  he  had  in 
his  recollection : 

"  The  Moor  is  of  a  free  and  open  nature, 
That  thinks  men  honest  that  but  seem  to  be  so  ;" 

and  even  this  very  passage  in  the  Discoveries,  as  may  well  be 
surmised,  smacks  of  lago,  the  praise  being  spiced  with  a 
delicious  bit  of  malice,  he  could  not  help  it,  'twas  his  nature. 
"  His  wit  was  in  his  own  power,  would  the  rule  of  it  had  been 
so  too.  Many  times  he  fell  into  those  things,  could  not  escape 
laughter,  as  when  he  said  in  the  person  of  Caesar,  one  speaking 
to  him,  '  Caesar,  thou  dost  me  wrong,'  he  replied,  '  Caesar  did 
never  wrong  but  with  just  cause,'  and  such  like,  which  were 
ridiculous."  This  anecdote  is  probably  a  specimen  of  Mermaid 
wit,  of  Shakspere's  love  of  a  joke,  [one  of  his  vices]  which  Ben 
is  pleased  to  deliver  seriously  to  "  posterity,"  and  so  worded 
as  if  it  referred  to  some  ridiculous  blunder  in  Julius  Ccesar; 
undoubtedly  the  Bohemian  tale  and  the  "  small  Latin  and  less 
Greek  "  are  similarly  spiced.  Jonson  seems  to  have  had  the 
same  querulous  love  and  jealousy  of  Shakspere  that  the 
United  States  have  of  England,  and  Shakespere  appears  to 
have  acted  with  the  usual  forbearance  and  occasional  warmth 
of  John  Bull. 

In  the  small  tract,  Shakspere  and  Jonson,  a  multum  in  parvo, 
written  of  necessity  concisely,  I  may,  in  seeking  to  avoid  the 
repetition  of  explanatory  phrases,  have  expressed  myself  more 
strongly  than  would  have  been  the  case  in  a  more  elaborate 
treatise ;  and  it  was  published  merely  as  a  sketch  or  note- 
book, in  hopes  it  might  attract  the  attention  of  others  more 
intimately  acquainted  with  Elizabethan  literature,  who  might 
describe  more  fully  and  explicitly  than  my  unable  pen  can 

Edmund  it  may  be  argued,  the  attack  on  Jonson,  notwithstanding  the  undis- 
guised personalities,  should  be  taken  mainly  in  a  poetical  and  allegorical  sense, 
whilst  the  real  sting  of  the  satire  is  more  covertly  aimed  at  Sir  Kobert  Cecil,  the 
mortal  foe  of  Essex,  and  the  false  friend  of  Ralegh,  James'  little  beagle,  and  the 
world's  "  devil."  It  is,  however,  the  fashion  to  regard  his  conduct  towards  the 
Earl  of  Essex  as  "  entirely  the  result  of  his  duty  to  his  Mistress  and  the  nation  ;" 
but  her  Majesty  might  have  quoted  : — 

"  Who  su'd  to  me  for  him  ?  Who,  in  my  rage, 
Kneel'd  at  my  feet,  and  bade  me  be  advis'd  ? 
Who  spoke  of  brotherhood  ?  who  spoke  of  love  ? " 

Richard  III.,  a.  ii.—  1. 


34  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

do,  the  freer  manners  of  the  age,  how  allegorical  were  the 
amusements,  shows,  and  processions,  besides  the  singular 
custom  in  France  of  contests  of  personal  abuse,  imitated  by 
Chapman,  in  his  Bussy  tfAmlois,  and  partially  transferred  by 
Shakspere  into  Lear.  Consequently  the  critics  are  in  error 
when  they  impute  to  me  the  absurdity  of  regarding  these 
dramas  as  mere  personal  squibs  and  satires ;  I  have  distinctly 
enunciated  a  very  different  opinion  at  page  76 ;  since  then  I 
have  again  read  these  plays  and  some  others  carefully  through, 
but  neither  statesmen  nor  dramatists  have  I  seen  shadowed 
therein ;  so  truly  do  the  poets,  like  the  homoeopaths,  hold  to 
their  law — "  the  play's  the  thing."  Oh,  divine  homoeopathy  ! 
thou  angel  of  light !  and  the  infinitesimal  dose  is  thy  robe  of 
light ;  but  old  Physic,  bemuddled  in  learned  ignorance,  and 
clouded  with  prejudice,  cannot  see  the  light ;  chattering 
calumniously  about  decillionths,  airy  nothings,  and  fantastic 
theories,  instead  of  honestly  examining  what  truth,  what  good 
may  be  contained  in  the  new  doctrine,  and  separating  the 
wheat  from  the  chaff,  how  some  substances,  given  under  the 
law,  may  be  remedial  in  singularly  minute  quantities,  others 
in  more  tangible  doses  ;  but,  oh,  the  haughty,  purblind  Allo- 
path !  he  sees  the  mote  in  his  little  brother's  eye,  whilst  the 
beam  in  his  own  is  a  stream  of  light.  As  with  homoeopathy 
so  with  these  plays  ;  it  is  only  by  a  minute  examination  in 
the  manner  indicated,  by  such  a  microscopical  inspection,  we 
can  get  at  the  inner  life  of  Shakspere,  the  man  himself  apart 
from  the  poet,  his  personal  feelings  and  political  partialities  ; 
for  whilst  much  has  been  said  of  his  intimacy  with  Pembroke 
and  Southampton,  two  boys  attracted  by  his  genius — not  a 
word  about  Ealeigh,  the  man  he  prized  above  all  others — 
Spenser  and  Sidney,  Shakspere  and  Ealeigh,  let  their  names 
ever  live  freshly  entwined.  But  the  way  is  dangerous,*  as 
full  of  peril 

"  As  to  o'er-walk  a  current  roaring  loud 
On  the  unsteadfast  footing  of  a  spear." 

*  "  Let  me  see  wherein 
My  tongue  hath  wrong' d  him." — As  You  Like  It,  a.  ii. — 7. 

Tieck  observes,  "  that  this  speech  of  Jaques  has  great  resemblance  to  Jonson's 
Prologue  to  Every  Man  out  of  his  Humour.  If  As  You  Like  It  may  be  assigned 
to  1600,  we  have  little  doubt  that  the  Jaques  of  Shakspere  was  intended  to  glance 
at  the  Asper  of  Jonson."  Possibly,  but  I  can  scarcely  think  so  ;  for  mere  simi- 
larity of  thought,  or  even  recollection  of  a  passage,  does  not  of  itself  constitute 
personal  satire.  The  Duke's  abuse,  "for  thou  thyself  hast  been  a  libertine," 
seems  more  applicable  to  Essex  than  to  Jonson,  not  at  all  to  Asper ;  and  have  we 
not  in  Jaques  a  foretaste  of  Timon,  the  luxurious  squanderer  turned  ascetic  ? 
But  quaere,  may  not  Touchstone,  the  attached  servant  of  Celia,  be  a  humorous 
hit  at  Jonson  ? 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  35 

From  a  feast  of  genuine  poetry  the  reader  should  arise  and 
go  his  ways,  strengthened,  full  of  bread,  rejoicing ;  but  the 
modern  notion  of  a  poet,  so  far  as  I  can  collect,  is  a  wee  little 
sensitive  thing,  a  sort  of  sesthetical  little  Jack  Horner,  that 
sits  in  a  corner  and  dreams  a  man — the  product,  a  morbid 
sentimentalism ;  to  which  charge,  unfortunately,  even  our 
Laureate,  the  greater  Daniel  of  a  greater  Queen,  is  liable  in  his 
last  production.  But  the  dramatists  of  Elizabeth  thought 
otherwise ;  they  looked  into  the  minds  of  the  human  mortals 
around  them,  analysed,  decomposed  and  re-constructed  ;  just 
as  the  sculptors  of  Greece  looked  at  the  loveliest  female  forms 
and  the  noblest  and  most  heroical  of  men  ;  and  if  our  drama- 
tists tempered  their  celestial  conceptions  with  a  little  clay, 
with  an  under-current  of  personal  satire,  invisible  to  the  vulgar 
mind,  as  the  grass  in  the  sirloin,  perceptible  only  to  the 
chemical  eye,  so  did  the  great  painters.  "  Paul  Veronese  in- 
troduced portraits  of  his  customers  in  pleasant  situations, 
Michael  Angelo  painted  those  whom  he  did  not  like  in  Pur- 
gatory and  worse/'  Shame  on  them  !  put  them  into  the  fire, 
our  old  dramatists,  the  Italian  Masters,  with  the  Arcadia, 
Faerie  Queene,  &c.,  mere  personal  squibs,  petty  revenges  ; 
Desdemona  and  Miranda  !  mere  allegorical  figures,  trumpery, 
into  the  fire  with  them.  Still,  with  all  my  faults,  I  guess  I 
am  not  quite  so  bad  as  John  Quincy  Adams  on  Desdemona, 
or  goody  Goldsmith  on  Hamlet.  I  had  flattered  myself  with 
having  done  some  good  deeds,  in  showing  how  Shakspere,  by 
dramatising  an  old  story,  avoids  the  appearance  of  invidious 
personality,  and  how,  under  his  supposed  carelessness  and 
idleness  about  the  structure  of  his  plots,  there  is  concealed 
the  highest  genius,  the  most  consummate  art ;  but  with  others 
I  find,  good  or  ill,  like  the  doctor's  skill,  lies  in  opinion,  not 
what  it  is. 

508.         In  a  wide  sea  of  wax.  a.  i. — 1. 

Read  vice. 


JULIUS  (LESAK. 

633.  For  if  fhonput  thy  native  semblance  on.  a.  ii. — 1. 
Read  pass. 

The  folio  has  path.    To  "  put  on,"  not  the  native  but  another  sem- 
blance, occurs  thrice  in  this  play. 

634.  No,  not  an  oath  :  if  not  the  face  of  men.  a.  ii. — 1. 

Read  fears. 


36  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

651.         Our  arms  no  strength  of  malice.  a.  iii. — 1. 

Read  in  strength  of  justice. 

"  Did  not  great  Julius  bleed  for  justice'  sake  ? 
What  villain  touch'd  his  body,  that  did  stab, 
And  not  for  justice"  a.  iv. — 3. 

654.         A  curse  shall  light  upon  the  minds  of  men.  a.  iii. — 1. 
Mead  souls. 

The  folio  has  limbs,  a  very  possible  misprint,  a  long  s  for  I,  an  im- 
perfect o  with  u  for  im,  and  I  for  b. 

668.         Abler  men.  a.  iv. — 3. 

Head  letter. 

The  folio  has  noble.  Had  Brutus  said  'abler,'  Cassius  would  have 
been  reminded  of  the  very  word  he  used,  and  could  not  then  have  asked, 
"  Did  I  say  '  better  1"'  "  If  you  did,  I  care  not,"  replies  Brutus.  Both 
appear  in  their  heat  to  have  forgotten  the  word. 


MACBETH. 

VOL.   VII. 

44.  Who  cannot  want  the  thought,  a.  iii. — 6. 

Read  can  now. 

64.  My  way  of  life.  a.  v. — 3. 

Read  day. 

"  Like  death  when  he  shuts  up  the  day  of  life." 

Romeo  and  Juliet. 

We  still  say  in  the  evening  or  autumn  of  our  days,  but  the  evening  of 
our  May  or  way  of  life  grates. 


HAMLET. 

According  to  the  opinion  of  the  modern  literary  world, 
Hamlet  is  a  weak,  irresolute  character ;  his  insanity,  partly 
real  partly  assumed,  the  real,  however,  being  softened  down 
to  a  melancholy  depending  on  the  sudden  death  of  his  father 
and  the  marriage  of  his  mother.  But  does  not  the  line  "  I  have 
that  within  which  passeth  show,"  denote  there  is  a  something 
dwelling  on  his  mind  ;  this  undefined,  this  phantom  something 
becomes  more  tangible,  "  My  father's  spirit  in  arms  !  all  is  not 
well ;  I  doubt  some  foul  play  ; "  and  it  bursts  forth  in  "  Oh, 
my  prophetic  soul,  my  uncle  !  "  he  had  long  suspected  it. 

Hamlet's  melancholy  arises  from  a  suspicion  of  his  father's 
murder  and  his  uncle's  guilt,  whilst  his  mother's  hasty  and 
ominous  marriage  would  fearfully  strengthen  this  suspicion, 
giving  substance  to  the  shadowy  thought  and  food  for  medita- 
tion, till  gradually  the  thought  becomes  a  fixed  idea,  a  reality, 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  37 

and  when  the  Ghost  says,  "  Kevenge  his  foul  and  most  un- 
natural murder,"  the  monomaniac  stands  confessed,  for  the 
Ghost's  speech,  with  all  its  beautiful  poetry,  is  simply  the 
reflex  or  utterance  of  Hamlet's  own  thoughts  ;  and  at  the  end 
of  the  play  he  himself  says,  "  I  here  proclaim  was  madness." 
His  supposed  irresolution  turns  entirely  on  his  moral  nature, 
on  a  doubt  whether  the  Ghost  was  really  his  father's  or  an 
evil  spirit  tempting  him  to  sin  ;  but  after  proof  of  the  crime, 
where  is  the  irresolution  ?  "  Is't  not  perfect  conscience  to 
quit  him  with  this  arm  ?  " 

Slowly  does  the  mind  free  itself  from  early  impressions  and 
from  the  trammels  of  authority  ;  consequently  by  a  too  ready 
acceptance  of  the  cause  of  his  melancholy  I  overlooked,  in  the 
Footsteps  of  Shakspere,  the  significance  of 

"  But  I  have  that  within  which  passeth  show." 

The  entry  in  the  Stationers'  Eegisters  of  "  A  Booke,  The 
Eevenge  of  Hamlett,  Prince  of  Denmarke,  as  yt  was  latelie 
acted  by  the  Lord  Chamberlayn  his  servantes,"  may  be  taken 
as  indubitable  evidence  that  the  amended  play  was  brought 
out  in  1600  or  1601,  at  least  not  long  before  July  26th,  1602. 
The  lately  acted  is  no  evidence  of  a  new  play,  since  "  the  old 
King  Leir  was  entered  on  the  Stationers'  Books,  May  8,  1605, 
as  it  was  lately  acted" ;  it  had  been  previously  entered  in  1594. 

120.  the  dram  of  evil 

Doth  all  the  noble  substance  oft  debase.  a.  i. — 4. 

Read  leaven  and  of  a  dougli. 

The  4to  of  1604  has  eale  and  of  a  doubt;  the  ease  in  the  other  quartos 
is  a  mere  misprint  for  '  eale/  the  I  mistaken  for  a  long  s. 

163.        And  do  such  Utter  business  as  the  day.        a.  iii. — 2. 

Omit  bitter  and  read  the  light  of  day. 

Opposed  to  the  "  witching  time  of  night."  The  quartos  have  "  Utter 
day." 

171.        And  either  master  the  devil  a.  iii. — 4. 

Read  lay. 

The  quarto  of  1604  has  '•  and  either  the  devil." 

201.        And  stand  a  comma  'tween  their  amities.         a.  v. — 2, 
Read  as  one  atween, 

"  And  many  such  like  as's  of  great  charge." 


LEAR 

255.        It  is  no  vicious  blot,  murder,  or  foulness.      a.  i. — 1. 
Read  no  slur. 


38  NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE. 

316.         Thou  changed  and  self-cover'd  thing.  a.  iv. — 2. 

Read  changct  and  discover3  d. 
She  has  just  openly  exposed  her  character. 

318.         And  clamour  moisten' d.  a.  iv. — 3 

Bead  softend. 

OTHELLO. 

376.         A  fellow  almost  damn'd  in  a  fair  wife.  a.  I — 1 . 

Read  other  wise. 

378.         At  this  odd-even  and  dull  watch  o'  the  night,  a.  i. — 1. 
Bead  hour. 

381.         As  double,  as  the  duke's  a.  i. — 2. 

Read  capable. 

"  Till  that  a  capable  and  wide  revenge." 

446.        A  fixed  figure  for  the  time  of  scorn 

To  point  his  slow  unmoving  finger  at.  a.  iv. — 2. 

Read  cold. 

1  Time '  is  the  figure  in-  the  middle  of  the  dial-plate,  and  the  finger, 
marking  the  hour,  is  of  course  Time's  finger ;  now  Othello  images 
himself  as  the  fixed  figure  at  which  the  unmoving  finger  of  scorn's  Time 
points. 

ANTONY  AND  CLEOPATEA. 

546.         Being  an  obstruct.  a.  iii. — 6. 

Read  obstacle. 
The  folio  has  abstract. 

573.        Demurely  wake  the  sleepers.  a.  iv. — 9. 

Read  do  mournfully. 

"Beat  the  drum  that  it  speak  mournfully,"  says  Aufidius  after  the 
death  of  Coriolanus. 

586.        Which  sleeps  and  never  palates  more  the  dug. 

Read  wrong.  a.  v. — 2. 

The  folio  has  dung. 


CYMBELINE. 

644.         For  taking  a  beggar  without  less  quality.         ft.  i. — 5. 

Read  inequality. 
660.  That  dawning 

May  lore  the  raven's  eye  !  a.  ii. — 2. 

Read  cheer. 
He  wanted  his  breakfast.     The  folio  has  beare. 


NEW  READINGS  IN  SHAKSPERE.  39 

666  Their  dicipline 

Now  mingled  with  their  courage.  a.  ii.  —  4. 
Read  winged. 

The  folio  has  wing-led.     A  similar  misprint,  wrong  kd  for  wronged, 
occurs  in  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  see  note  112. 

680.         Whose  mother  was  her  painting.  a.  iii.  —  4. 
Readfavour. 

683.         Pretty  and  full  of  view.  a.  iii.  —  4. 
jRtffl^  happy. 

698.  For  defect  of  judgment 

Is  oft  the  cwre  of  fear.  a.  iv.  —  2. 


We  have  a  similar  sentiment  in  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  "  A  diminu- 
tion in  our  captain's  brain  restores  his  heart."     The  folio  has  cause. 


PEEICLES. 

And  testy  wrath 

Could  never  be  her  mild  companion.  a.  i. — 1. 

Read  mirttis. 

"  As  from  thence  sorrow  were  ever  raz'd ;"  a  sprightly  wanton,  "  buxom 
blithe,  and  full  of  face." 

Our  tongues  and  sorrows  do  sound  deep 
Our  woes  into  the  air.  a.  i. — 4, 

Read  sobbings. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 
THE    SONNETS    OF    SHAKSPERE, 

Re-dTTanged  and  divided  into  Four  Parts,  with  an  Introduction  and 
Explanatory  Notes. 

Post  8vo,  cloth.     3s.  6d.     May,  1859. 


THE    FOOTSTEPS    OF    SHAKSPERE; 

Or,   a    Eamble    with    the    Early    Dramatists,    containing    new    and 

interesting  Information  respecting  Shakspere,  Lyly,  Marlowe,  Greene, 

and  others. 

Post  8vo,  doth,  5s.  6d.     November,  1861. 


SHAKSPERE,    SIDNEY,   AND    ESSEX. 
Vide  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  S.,  iii.,  82,  103,  124. 


THE    "ARCADIA"   UNVEILED. 

Vide  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  S.,  iii.,  441,  481,  501. 


THE   "FAERIE    QUEENE"   UNVEILED. 

Vide  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  S.,  iv.,  21,  65,  101. 


"JULIET"  UNVEILED. 

Vide  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  S.,  iv.,  181. 


SHAKSPERE    AND     JONSON. 

DRAMATIC,  v.  WIT-COMBATS. 
Auxiliary  Forces  :  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  Marston,  Decker,  Chapman, 

and  Webster. 
Post  8vo,  4s.     Twelfth  Night,  1864. 


JOHN  RUSSELL  SMITH,  36,  SOHO  SQUARE,  LONDON. 


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